“Fearless”
Storm Theophanies
ANSWER THE QUESTION
What is my message about? : God reminds us that we do not go through the storms of life alone. God
has not, and will not leave us to suffer in isolation. When the storms of life come we must not act in hast, or
follow the crowd, or take the easy way out. We must recognize that we are helpless, he is sufficient, and our
sole dependency rests on Christ alone.
Why is it Important? : When storms of life come we forget that God is more fearful, and more powerful
than anything that we could possibly be afraid of, therefore most of us turn and run instead of standing firm.
What do I want them to do? : Study Scripture: Why do trials and storms exist? How should I respond,
what does it tell me about the character of God. Affirm God’s sovereignty: do we believe that he is in absolute
control over everything that happens? Do we believe that he will use all things even suffering for our good
and his glory? Pray: during times of crisis we tend to do things by instinct. Prayer should be one of those
things.
What is the single most persuasive idea? Trust God controlling circumstances not future fearful Storms.
“Fearless”
Storm Theophanies
BUILD THE BOXES
THE INTRODUCTION
THEOPHANY – The appearance of God in CHARACTER, ATTRIBUTES, and NATURE.
“The Pillar of Cloud” – guided and protected – Hebrew word denotes mass, fog, all encompassing.
“Thunder” – Hebrew ra-am – vibration/trembling. Hebrew Kol – personal connection, voice of God. Hebrew Ruach –
Breath or spirit of God.
“Lightening” – Hebrew Baraq 14 times in scripture used against pagan Gods.
BIG IDEA: Trust God controlling circumstances not future fearfull storms.
THE ANSWER
HOW DO WE STAND FEARLESS IN THE STORM?
1. We must recognize our helplessness in the storm.
2. We must recognize his sufficiency in the storm.
3. We must recognize our dependency in the storm.
“Fearless”
Storm Theophanies
IMAGINE
How do we stand firm and experience a fearless life in the middle of the storm?
*Study Scripture: What does it say about trials and suffering? How should I respond? What does it tell me about he
character of god?
*Affirm God’s Sovereignty: Do we believe that he is in absolute control over everything. Do we believe that he will
use all things even suffering for our good and his glory?
*Pray: During times of crisis we tend to do things by instinct. Prayer should be instinctual like breathing.
WRITE THE DRAFT
THEOPHANY – The appearance of God in, attributes, character, and nature.
The Pillar of Cloud – guided and protected – Hebrew word denotes mass, fog, all encompassing
THUNDER: ra-am – vibration/trembling
Kol – personal connection, voice of God (Exodus 9:23; Psalm 46:7)
Ruach – breath or spirit, wind, as the voice of God.
LIGHTENING: Conceived in the bible as an active sign of God. Syrian and Mesopotamian Gods are represented
many times with the thunderbolt.
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God is more fearful than any fear we could imagine
God will protect us from what is most fearful
God reminds us that we do not go through the storms of life alone
People need to be reminded of the all powerful nature of god who keeps His promises…………
Exodus 14:1-14
“There are times for moving and times to stand still”
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Moses tells the people with pharaoh and his army pressing down to stand still and let God lead.
The sea opens up with God’s protection
“Fearless”
Storm Theophanies
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God was true to His promises.
BIG IDEA: Trust God controlling circumstances not future fearful storms.
Vrs. 12 “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert. (What they were really saying is that it
would be better for us to go back to the beatings and hard labor than to trust God to Lead)
THREE TYPES OF STORMS
1)
2)
3)
Storms of life, we simply live in a world that has storms as a natural part of life. (rains on the just and unjust)
Storms that are engineered by our own stupidity, and disobedience. (Kind of storm Jonah faced)
Storms that we are dragged into by other people. (Paul prisoner heading to Rome Storm)
Vrs 19-20 The cloud of God standing between the Israelites and the Egyptians army. (God is standing between us and our fears
ready to lead the way through the storms we are facing)
Angel of the Lord – closely identified with God himself. God’s presence seen at the burning bush, pillar in the desert,
Mt. Sinai.
God is with Us – Fancis Shaeffer: “He is there and he is not silent.” (God has not and will not leave us to suffer in
isolation.
HOW DO WE STAND FEARLESS IN THE STORM?
1. We must recognize our helplessness in the storm.
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We try to take the easy way out.
We make our decisions in haste.
2. We must recognize God’s sufficiency
MANS SUFFICIENCY VS. GOD’S
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Man does not have the adequate resources and abilities to meet life’s challenges. (2 Cor. 3:5 “Not that we are
sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us. But our sufficiency is from God.”) Ability to be Godly,
the road map!
“Fearless”
Storm Theophanies
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God’s sufficiency draws Man up to the glory of the kingdom of heaven. Man’s sufficiency is great for storing up
treasure on the earthly plan but is completely inadequate for what the believer is called to do in the family.
Christians serve God under the terms of the new covenant. (2 Corinthians 3:14 “But there minds were blinded.
For until this day the same veil remains un-lifted in the reading of the covenant, because the veil is taken away
in Christ.
3. We must recognize our dependency in the storm.
In C.S. Lewis – “Prince Caspian,” a child named Lucy encounters Aslan, the Christ-figure of the Narnia stories, after not seeing him
for a long while. “Aslan, you’re bigger,” she says. That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are?”
“I am not but every year you grow, you will find me bigger.” The more mature in our faith we are, the bigger God will be for us.
As our vision of God becomes clearer we understand his enormity, we learn to rest in him. We grow in our ability to depend
completely on him.
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We become dependent on the circumstances rather than God sovereignty! (Jesus allowed his disciples to experience fear
and anxiety in the middle of the storm)
4. We must recognize our status in the storm.
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We are a child of the King. (God will never treat us as orphans who need to fend for themselves. Failure to grasp this will
lead inevitably to worry and failure in our moral lives.)
IMAGINE – How do we stand firm and experience fearlessness in the face of our storms?
ADVANCED PREPARATION FOR THE STORM
1.
2.
3.
Study Scripture: What does it say about trials and suffering? Why do they exist? How should I respond? What does this tell
us about the character of God? (It makes a big difference whether we think God is out to get us or that he is Holy,
righteous, and good in all he does.)
Affirm God’s Sovereignty – Do we believe that He is in absolute control over everything that happens? Do we believe that
he will use all things even suffering for our good and His glory?
Pray First – During times of crisis we tend to act on instinct. Prayer should be instinctual like breathing!